Community

Let’s talk rubbish!

A lot of hard work, planning and technological innovation goes into collecting Peterborough’s recycling and waste. Ben Vanheems catches up with two people on the frontline of waste management in the city – Amey’s Waste Supervisor Ali Karatas and Waste and Recycling Manager Mick Robb

What’s it like being a bin man? Working as a bin man, or loader, isn’t an easy job. It’s physically tiring, demanding alertness, strength and speed. Amey’s Waste Supervisor Ali Karatas worked as a bin man for many years and knows first-hand how challenging it can be…

Ali, you were on the collection rounds until quite recently. Can you tell us what a typical day involves for a refuse collector?
The day starts at 6am when the crews check their vehicles and get everything ready. They’ll then be given their rounds, so they know exactly where they’ll be working that day. By 6.45am they are emptying the first bins, and that’s what they continue to do for the rest of the day. Each crew normally visits 1,500 properties, though on some days it could be up to 2,000.

Wow! That’s an incredible amount of walking and lifting! How is each crew broken down?
There are three loaders within each crew. On a recycling day, one of the crew members will be doing the food waste collections, while two will be loading and emptying the green bins. Each crew also has a driver. Depending on the area they are working in, the vehicle may be emptied two or three times during the day. They will come back to the depot to unload into the waste transfer station then head out again to continue their round. Every time a vehicle leaves or returns to the depot, there’s a chance it may get delayed in traffic so we actively try to avoid busy times and areas, such as main roads during rush hour, or schools at drop off or collection time.

So there’s an element of planning that goes into trying to avoid delays?
Definitely. Each crew has its own folders and maps with details of where they are going and the areas, such as schools or main streets, that they need to avoid. That’s all planned in. Planning is a major task, because on any one day there will be up to 20 crews working across the city, and they all need that level of planning.

When do crews take their breaks?
They take a minimum of 45 minutes of breaks during the day and it’s up to each crew when they take it. We recommend they come back to the depot because it has all the facilities: toilets, washing facilities and a break area. Crews normally take their breaks between loads.

And we have to ask, what if one of the crew needs the toilet between breaks?
Each lorry has an official toilet list, so no matter where they are working they are never further than five minutes from the nearest toilet.

Can the crews go home once they’ve finished their round?
We work to a ‘small group task then finish’ setup, which means that a small number of crews work together as a team to get the job done. Each group has three crews working in the same area and helping each other out, so when one crew finishes its round, they go on to help the two remaining crews. Then, once all three crews have finished, they are free to go home. This setup is mentally very encouraging, because if a crew breaks down they know that there are two other crews out there who will offer them help. We’ve been trialling this arrangement for almost a year and it’s working really well. Crews are finishing quicker and there’s better morale. At the end of the day, we want to keep the guys happy, so they can come to work, get the job done then go home at a reasonable time.

Watch your weight!
Weight is a common reason why a bin might be rejected. Bins should be easy enough to move without causing strain, but it’s not just for the loaders’ sake, as Ali Karatas explains: ‘Each lorry has to empty around 1,500 bins every day. If the weight of a bin is excessive, there is a risk that the loading mechanism of the vehicle could be damaged, which means the lorry is off the road.’ If you have excess recycling, simply put it into clear bags placed next to your green bin. The bags need to be clear so the loaders can see the contents and that it’s suitable for recycling.

Is there anything that dents morale among the crews?
One of the challenges for the loaders is aggressive drivers. Some drivers don’t appreciate exactly what we do and can get impatient if they are stuck behind one of our vehicles. We’ve had incidences of people driving on footpaths to get around lorries, risking people’s lives in the process. In the past loaders have even been run over, luckily without serious injury. We now have CCTV cameras fitted to our vehicles, which has helped a lot. We can report any aggressive drivers to the police. Another challenge can be angry residents. For example, if a recycling bin is contaminated with non-recyclable waste and a crew refuses to empty it, the resident might become confrontational and get angry. We would try to explain why the bin has been refused but sometimes we’re threatened with violence and all sorts of things.

Is aggression very common?
I would say that each crew experiences some form of aggression at least once a week. It’s often around contamination and ‘why didn’t you empty my bin?’

How big a problem is contamination of recycling?
Contamination is a big problem that’s getting even bigger. We allow up to 5% of the recycling collected to be contaminated. The scale of the problem varies with the time of year – it goes up during school breaks and in the summer. When the lorries come back to the waste transfer site we have to make a visual judgement on the level of contamination which can sometimes be up to 10%. Last week we had two lorries that were easily 60% contaminated. If there’s too much contamination the recycling can’t be separated, so the whole lot is rejected and goes for burning at the energy recovery facility.

That’s such a shame. What do you think is behind high contamination rates?
It’s not just younger people who may not understand what goes into what bin. As a multicultural city with lots of newcomers, there is also a percentage of the population that haven’t grown up in a recycling culture. Even in my culture we don’t have bins. So there’s an element of confusion. We’re trying to tackle the confusion. We have education officers going out into areas where we know people probably don’t have that knowledge know what can and can’t be recycled. To get around language barriers of the education materials we provide are picture-based, showing what goes in which bin. Then we have an education officer who goes into schools to help educate the kids about recycling. We are doing our very best to help as many people as possible understand what should go in their green bin.

Do you tell residents why their bins have been rejected, for example by putting stickers on their bins?
Yes, we have stickers that explain any reason we might reject a bin. Another reason for rejection is the weight of bins. Over the Christmas period bins can sometimes get too heavy because of all the glass bottles.

We’ve talked about contamination, but what’s the most bizarre thing you’ve ever found in a bin?
We’ve found tellies, dead animals – even washing machines – in the green bins. People put all sorts of stuff in!

Finally, Ali, is there anything residents can do to make life as easy as possible for the crews?
Please be patient with us! Let us do our job. We are not here to make life difficult for people, we just want to do the very best that we can for our city. Oh, and remember we’re only human and have feelings too!

Top tips to reduce contamination

1 Look out for recycling labels on packaging to help identify whether it is recyclable or not.
2 Leave metal caps and lids on glass jars and bottles.
3 Empty and rinse all containers.
4 Don’t forget to recycle items from all rooms in the house – e.g. shampoo bottles from the bathroom.
5 If in doubt, check before you chuck using Recycle Now’s Recycling Locator: www.recyclenow.com/local-recycling
Tips taken from: recyclenow.com  

Image: www.freepik.com/free-vector/recycling-elements-collection_1024019

Leave a Reply

Comments are closed.

Register an Account